Fashion and beauty

The last two years significantly accelerated the underlying growth of e-commerce and the need to commoditise your data effectively. The role of the high street has changed — stores need to provide interaction, experience and a frictionless customer journey.

Our beauty and fashion lawyers have a wealth of experience advising on all aspects of the customer journey from the moment a customer first looks at an actual or virtual shop window to the purchase of products. We have helped fashion and beauty industry clients refine their omni-channel offering maximise the value of the data collected and supporting the growth of their brand.

• It might be time to rethink your physical strategy. We have helped many fashion and beauty brands assess and put in place plans to refine etheir commercial property portfolio.
• You may be looking for new ways to reach your customer base. Sending marketing communications without required consents is an area where we see significant complaints and an area that regulators enforce through monetary penalties. Our beauty and fashion lawyers can help you to reach your intended audience whilst minimising data protection risk.
• Use of advertising technologies can give real benefit to your brand and drive sales if implemented correctly. We advise fashion and beauty brands on innovative ways of harnessing new tools.
• The way we purchase online is constantly changing. Our beauty and fashion lawyers can help you integrate new processes such as 'buy now pay later' and sales through marketplaces and platforms in a way that is legally compliant and protects your fashion and beauty brand.
• Our advertising team can ensure your product packaging, above the line ads and other creative content is in line with the ASA requirements and does not create other infringement risks.
• The regulatory landscape is constantly evolving. Our beauty and fashion lawyers can help you navigate these changes from the introduction of plastic packaging taxes and the re-classification of ingredients to the introduction of new consumer protections.

Your brand is your image and your voice to consumers. Product innovation is what keeps your business moving. We can help you protect and exploit both of these things.

Our beauty and fashion law team spans the whole range of intellectual property rights across both contentious and non- contentious matters, whether it be complex patent litigation, trade mark strategy and protection advice, advertising and marketing matters, copyright-related issues, IP licensing arrangements, R&D and collaboration agreements or design rights advice.

Having an international brand strategy adds value to your fashion and beauty brand, means smoother entry into new markets and being able to prevent counterfeit or unauthorised sales.

Influencer led marketing is a key pillar of any strategy – our beauty and fashion lawyers have huge experience in drafting template documents and negotiating with agents.

Loyalty programs are a great way of building consumer relationships – we can ensure they are compliant with data and advertising laws.

Sponsorships come in many shapes and sizes – our beauty and fashion lawyers can ensure your fashion and beauty brand gets the full benefit of any arrangement.

The shift towards 'blanding' means that protecting your fashion and beauty brand and what it means to consumers is all the more important. A tailored trade mark portfolio and enforcement strategy helps you do this.

The rise in copycat discount sellers needs a creative brand protection strategy along with active policing.

Collaborations between brands are commonplace – especially between complimentary brands in different sectors. When executed properly they are an excellent marketing opportunity and drive sales. Our beauty and fashion lawyers can help you negotiate and protect those collaborations.

ESG is one of the most important areas of board room focus - and an increasingly important factor in consumer decision making.

The commitment to be more ethical and sustainable impacts all areas of a fashion and beauty industry business: its people, materials, supply chain, processes and advertising. Achieving an effective ESG agenda cannot be done in isolation.

• Net zero emissions can only be achieved through a stark look at your supply chain – we have helped fashion and beauty clients implement standards and checks across their contractual networks.
• The circular business model is one of the fastest growing retail trends. Due to its short term conflict with the drive for profit it has faced challenges in logistics and availability of sizing. We have advised innovative platforms that partner with fashion and beauty brands to implement these initiatives.
• Distribution and the final mile present huge opportunities for improvement – we advise huge logistics companies on operating models and deals with retailers – our beauty and fashion lawyers understand the whole supply chain.
• Positioning your fashion and beauty brand’s stance on these issues is crucial. Today’s consumers are perceptive to an inauthentic marketing voice. The Advertising Standards Authority and the Competition and Markets Authority are more alive than ever to the prospect of greenwashing claims and taking action against those companies that fall foul of its guidance on claims about sustainability.
• As the world gets used to new ways of working, employee requests and expectations are changing. Our beauty and fashion lawyers help clients shape their post pandemic working policies and processes.
• Your employees are your lifeblood, and companies are taking increasing responsibility for their welfare.

Fashion and beauty market conditions over the last couple of years have meant there has been a huge amount of activity related to supply chains, mergers and acquisitions.

What our beauty and fashion lawyers can do for you:

• The ongoing spectre of supply chain issues including raw material shortages, delivery delays, spiralling costs or just the fear of these issues is creating longer lead times and tying up cashflow We have helped fashion and beauty businesses review their supply chains to ease pressure points, implement new processes and trim less profitable eoutgoings.
• We have a strong logistics practice, acting for some of the biggest players such as DPD UK and EV Cargo. Our beauty and fashion lawyers understand supply chains from end-to-end.
• We have particular expertise in advising fashion and beauty brand owners and manufacturers on everything from putting in place framework agreements; securing the supply of key components and raw materials; engaging contract manufacturers, fillers and packaging suppliers; to appointing, managing and terminating contracts with commercial agents, distributors and other intermediaries.
• We can help you to set up and administer your distribution network whatever your model – we can help implement selective distribution to protect a luxury image, and how best to maximise sales through contractual mechanisms.
• Our award winning corporate team is known for its extensive experience in M&A transactions, private equity work, corporate governance advice and solvent reorganisations. With our expertise working with clients based in the UK and overseas and our close relationships with leading law firms globally, we are able to provide timely, responsive and cost-effective advice with minimal distraction to our fashion and beauty clients’ businesses.
• We have lots of experience with early stage businesses and scaleups, and have helped many go through early stage funding rounds and put in place the relevant suite of company documents.
• Since 1994 we have had a team dedicated to providing a complete range of legal services to support French companies setting up businesses or developing their trading activities in the UK Groupe Français. The team are proud to advise a number of well-known French brands in the fashion and beauty industry and are uniquely placed to assist and advise these clients in navigating the cultural differences between France and the UK.